ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 17, 1997 TAG: 9702190019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
HUNTERS reported killing 207,560 deer during the 1996-97 season, a 5 percent decline from the previous season and the first time in eight years a record wasn't set. But that didn't slow the booming success of muzzleloader hunters.
The muzzleloading kill was a record 45,591, up 14 percent from the previous season and 22 percent of the total take.
The fact that some 65 percent of the deer killed by muzzleloaders were antlered bucks has Department of Game and Inland Fisheries officials wondering if the reins need to be tightened on black-powder hunters.
``I think it is safe to say, without going into a lot of detail, that we will be taking a very hard look at the possibility of trying to reduce the buck kill during the early muzzleloading season,'' said Bob Duncan, chief of the department's game division.
``I would certainly say we have concerns about that and those concerns are shared by the sportsmen. I think we have some ways that we can address that in regulations that won't be too catastrophic for anybody.''
Hunting regulations, which are set every other year, are scheduled to be proposed during a public meeting March 20 in Richmond and finalized in early May. Sportsmen will be asked for input during a series of meetings across the state that have yet to be scheduled.
While the deer kill declined slightly, a fall turkey kill of 11,859 represented a 6 percent increase. The 602 bear kill was the same as last season.
``I don't think there is anything to be alarmed about,'' Duncan said of the modest decline in the deer kill. ``It is not our objective to have a record deer harvest every year. Our objective is to gain and maintain control of the deer herd.
``What we are seeing is that liberal seasons and bag limits have stabilized the growth of the herd. Now some people are going to think we have gone too far. This is the fifth or sixth year that we have come in with a harvest of more than 200,000.''
Duncan said his department had received numerous inquiries from hunters asking, ``Where are the deer?''
Denny Quaiff, executive director of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, has been hearing the same comments.
``It is pretty obvious that there are not as many deer to hunt,'' Quaiff said, but the kill figures show things aren't as bad as many hunters believe.
``The system isn't broken, and I think that Bob Duncan and his people are doing a tremendous job managing this deer herd, because we forget what it was like in the '60s,'' he said. ``The concern is, how much further do we want to take the herd down? Are we satisfied where the herd is? The goal was to reduce the herd, and I think we have done that.''
Forty percent of the deer killed were females, and that's probably as far as the department wants to go in that direction, Duncan said.
``There is nothing to indicate that we need to take any more quantum leaps forward in terms of liberalization,'' he said. ``If anything, we may find areas that we need to tweak it back a little bit.''
The buck kill during the muzzleloading season certainly fits that category, he said.
``I am not trying to scare anybody,'' Duncan said. ``A couple of years ago when we first talked about this thing, we made the comment that if the antlered-buck kill got to a certain point we may have to come forth with some ideas on how to slow that down. I think we can do that by looking at the bag limit, not necessarily changing the season itself.
``What the muzzleloading figures are telling me, people are buck hunting. The rut is going strong. I think we are going to have to look at ways to slow that down, or to say that buck killing isn't going to be of an unlimited nature.''
Duncan said one concerned sportsman sent him a clipping from a black-powder publication that highlighted a North Carolina hunter who had come to Virginia and killed five bucks in five days.
"I can see that this muzzleloading season is becoming so popular that there are too many racked bucks being shot too early,'' Quaiff said.
Many of the comments being received by the game department are from hunters who want more emphasis placed on growing quality bucks, Duncan said.
``A lot of letters we are receiving are saying, `Let's hold off on killing anything that isn't a 4-point,''' he said.
In a survey of its members, the Virginia Deer Hunters Association is asking for comments on opening the deer seasons on Saturdays, rather than on Mondays. It also is exploring making jacketed or copper bullets legal during the muzzleloading season.
As for turkeys, the increase in the kill is a reflection of a growing population of these big birds, Duncan said. He hopes it is a case of the more restrictive fall regulations of the past two seasons resulting in more breeding birds.
``I like what the numbers say. How fast turkeys are increasing remains to be seen,'' Duncan said. ``My only concern is that people may want to turn around that trend. We have set a course of action with an objective in mind, and I don't think we are there yet.''
The bear kill of 602 is above the long-term average, but well short of the record.
``One thing that was real good, I thought, the percentage of females was 311/2,'' which indicates breeder sows aren't being overkilled, Duncan said. Before the mid-1970s, females in the kill averaged 45 percent, a number that was reduced through adjustments to the season dates.
Bowhunters killed 45 bears, 27 percent of them females.
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Trophy bucks killed this past season that scoredby CNBaround 200 Boone and Crockett points include a Floyd County buck
(left) killed by Ronnie Perdue of Salem and a Bath County buck
killed and displayed 2. (above) by Joe Bond of Wilkesboro, N.C.
color. Graphic: Charts by staff. 1. Season totals. 2. Turkeys. 3.
Bear. color.